Committee Spotlight - iREAD Committee
April 16, 2021
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Read on the Wild Side. Reading by Design. Dig Deeper: Read, Investigate, Discover. These are just a few examples of some excellent summer reading program themes created by ILA's very own iREAD team. The chances are that your library, along with thousands of other libraries across the country, has implemented one of the themes in the past! This year, libraries in the states of Minnesota, California, Alaska, Iowa, Oregon, and worldwide by the Department of Defense for libraries on military bases will be using this summer's iREAD theme, Reading Colors Your World.
The iREAD committee is a team of librarians and library staff who collaboratively create a flexible reading program with universal themes, appealing incentives, eye-catching artwork, and a resource guide full of program ideas and reproducibles. The committee starts planning each year's program almost three years in advance! For example, 2023 iREAD chair Donna Block started planning her theme "Find Your Voice" in the fall of 2020!
How is a theme chosen? The chair provides a variety of theme ideas, and with the assistance of the current iREAD committee members, a theme is chosen. iREAD then collects taglines, and librarians have the opportunity to help narrow down the theme to the final tagline selection! After the theme and slogan are selected, potential illustrators are identified and work begins on capturing the theme in artwork. This summer, the 2023 team will start working its magic to create a formidable summer reading program. Each summer reading program has its own team of coordinators, including a chair, resource guide coordinator, booth coordinator, showcase coordinator, and publicity coordinator. There is also a Youth Services Forum, YA Forum liaison, Adult liaison, and ILA board liaison assisting with the planning and implementation. The iREAD committee consists of two summer reading theme teams; this year's committee consists of the 2021 team and 2022 team plus the 2023 Chair, 2020 past chair (ambassador), and the California iREAD committee members.
In addition to the iREAD committee, there is also an iREAD Resource Guide Taskforce. The Resource Guide Coordinator leads the task force, which consists of Chapter Leads and Chapter team members. The task force consists of librarians across the United States. Together, they create a resource guide full of activities, graphics, crafts, reading lists, and much more for children, teens, and adults.
The theme for iREAD's 2021 summer reading program is Reading Colors Your World. The broad motif of "colors" provides a context for exploring humanity, nature, culture, and science, as well as developing programming that demonstrates how libraries and reading can expand the reader's world through kindness, growth, and community. Library patrons young and old will be encouraged to be creative, try new things, explore art, and find beauty in diversity. Upcoming year's themes include Read Beyond the Beaten Path (2022) and Find Your Voice (2023).
All revenue from the iREAD summer reading program is used to support libraries. There are no membership fees or contracts. Also, libraries can use the art in perpetuity after purchase! Find out more about iREAD at https://www.ireadprogram.org.
iREAD Summer Reading Programs
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